During Nvidia's press conference at CES, the company boasted a growing PC gaming community without providing hard numbers other than a booming worldwide eSports scene. Now, independent market research firm Jon Peddie Research (JPR) has disclosed that the global PC gaming hardware market has reached over $30 billion as of this past year. The report covers 33 countries and accounts for sales of notebooks, desktops, DIY systems, and accessories separated into Entry-Level, Mid-Range, and High-End products.

The source cites a number of key reasons as to why PC gaming is on the rise. Firstly, the wider availability of affordable monitors offering higher resolutions than native FHD add incentives for new and existing gamers to upgrade their systems to play the latest games. Secondly, the aforementioned growing popularity of eSports is overwhelmingly catered to PC players with more PC cases, accessories, and gear designed around hardcore gaming for the public to purchase. Lastly, the falling sales of both console hardware and software may suggest that some gamers are moving away from the closed platforms of Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo in favor of higher-end desktop or laptop systems.

As for the near future, JPR is predicting that affordable gaming hardware like the GTX 1050 and the upcoming AMD Ryzen architecture should cater well to hardcore gamers on a budget moving through the end of 2017.

With general notebook sales expected to stagnate in the short term, gaming notebooks might be able to pick up the slack should manufacturers like MSI, Asus, Acer, Lenovo, HP, Aorus, and others deliver in full force. The long term impact of VR headsets on the market remains to be seen.

Mid- and high-range systems make up almost 80 percent of the $30 billion in sales (Source: Jon Peddie Research)

After graduating with a B.S. in environmental hydrodynamics from the University of California, I studied reactor physics to become licensed by the U.S. NRC to operate nuclear reactors. There's a striking level of appreciation you gain for everyday consumer electronics after working with modern nuclear reactivity systems astonishingly powered by computers from the 80s. When I'm not managing day-to-day activities and US review articles on Notebookcheck, you can catch me following the eSports scene and the latest gaming news.